219, JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
fruits at Ottawa and other places in Canada; and in many other direc- 
tions by various experimenters. Various private individuals, as Munson 
and Burbank, are making useful experiments along similar lines and 
on a commercial basis. 
Another fruitful class of experiments, although not strictly hybridisa- 
tional, are those which have to do with the influence of crossing upon the 
set of fruit. Studies in this direction have proceeded far in America, 
having been set on foot by the investigations of Waite and Fairchild. 
While pomological interests are paramount and often unique, distinct 
advancement has been made in many other types of plants. The most 
notable example is the carnation. The winter or forcing carnation or 
clove pink (Dianthus Caryophyllus) has developed into a new type in 
North America, and the evolution has come about within a generation. 
An important part of this progress has arisen by means of crossing. 
Other flowers have received attention from the hybridist, but in no other, 
so far as I know, has the American established a well-marked and domi- 
nant race. 
In nearly all these instances hybridisation has been a means rather 
than an end. It induces variation. It is the beginning of plant- 
breeding: selection is the continuation of it. This is a fundamental 
principle. Hybridisation is not an art, distinct in itself, but is, or should 
be, one part or step in plant-breeding processes. In the case of fanciers’ 
plants it is of less importance than in fruits, for a few plants satisfy the 
demand. Taken in a large sense it is immaterial whether the variation 
is originated by means of hybridisation or otherwise. The variety is its 
own justification. In the varieties produced by the private plant- 
breeders the public must be content to judge by the results, for the data 
of their origin are not often given. Hybridisation seems to be a magic 
word, and many of the new varieties which are attributed to it in this 
country are only seedlings of ordinary parentage. The laws of plant- 
breeding are to be worked out in the United States by the officers of the 
experiment stations. For the moment most of these workers are 
engrossed in the details of the business. Only two or three philosophical 
essays have appeared ; but perhaps this is a sufficiently high proportion. 
The foregoing review of experience suggests the tendencies in 
American plant-breeding efforts. The controlling tendency is to develop 
plants which are adapted to our native conditions; secondarily is the 
tendency to develop varieties to satisfy individual or personal desires. 
It is to be expected that as the general or national demands are satisfied 
the specific and personal demands will come to be more prominent. 
More and more, as years go by, will the EKuropean-bred varieties be used 
as bases for further breeding, rather than as perfected commodities in them- 
selves. From time to time a race will come to be so distinctly developed 
in America that the European stock will no longer be needed. This has 
already occurred in the Carnation and the Chrysanthemum. Yet I hope 
and expect that the time will never come when the American loses 
interest in any novelty which the European brotherhood may produce. 
We must continue to draw, not only hybrids, but knowledge of hybridism 
from European sources. 
There is a decided tendency to utilise our native species in the 
